While the Doctor's Away, the Humans Will Play
by StarExplorer623
Summary: While the Doctor rests at a future hotel, Donna accidently flies the Tardis back in time, and finds a mysterious shapeshifter terrorising the people.
1. Donna in the Tardis

"**Copyright, Donna Noble" Sorry, I don't own Doctor Who, that's BBC's job.**

Donna, stay out of trouble." the Doctor poked his head around the hotel door. He had recently almost died, twice in fact, and had decided that he would take a well deserved rest. Of course, Donna had no intention of resting. Not when there was a future world to explore!

"What? Trouble? When have _I _gotten us into trouble?" She said indignantly. The doctor stared at her, eyebrows raised. Donna swallowed. "Well, maybe once or twice…"

Suddenly, the Doctor's legs buckled, and Donna had to lead him to the hotel bed. "_You _have to get some rest, don't worry about me!" He laid back gratefully.

"How can I not?"

Donna remained silent. The Doctor's eyes slowly fluttered shut, and she slowly tiptoed out the door, shutting it silently behind her. Alone at last.

The future hotel. She had to admit, it was amazing. Almost all the staff were robots, and the few that were human actually managed the place. The rooms were specially calibrated for different types of aliens, and outside the Earth buzzed with flying cars and people. It was really something. If you travel with the Doctor, sometimes you have to take a step back and realize how impossible your life is. But, Donna did none of that. In fact, she was thinking only one word; Tardis.

Yes, she knew exactly the janitor's closet in which it was parked, and in her hands was the master key, carefully taken from the sleeping Doctor. She hadn't really had a proper look around, which she obviously deserved. A gentle turn of the key, a push of the door, and there was the Tardis, bigger on the inside. She had never really been in it without the Doctor. It made it much more mysterious.

Donna carefully tapped a button on the control panel, and a hissing sound reverberated around the Tardis. She smiled. "Oh, Doctor, what does this button do?" She pressed another, and a humming started.

"Let's see…" She hit a big green button.

Suddenly, the time machine rocked violently. Donna was thrown against the control panel, hitting more buttons and switches. The Tardis began to hum much more loudly, and Donna struggled to get a grip on anything. She heard screaming, screaming for the Doctor, and realized that it was her own. She flew backwards and hit her head on a bar, and her last thought before she swam into darkness was;

"Blimey, I am stupid."

**Thanks for reading, if I feel that it's worth it, I'll update, but please send some honest reviews!**


	2. All alone?

"Donna…..wake up…Donna…" It was the Doctor, but he was so…far…away…. She began to sink back into the warm, welcoming darkness, where there was no such thing as being alone….

"DONNA! WAKE UP!"

She sat up with a yelp, immediately aware of the pain in her head. _It was just my dream, _she thought, seeing the massive expanse of the Tardis. _The Doctor is here, in the Tardis. I fell asleep, any second now he will come and make fun of me falling asleep. In just a second…_

No man in a brilliant long coat came out of the doorway. She remembered. She was alone.

But how could she be, she had heard his voice! The Tardis echoed still with his shout. She could have heard it in her mind, but that would mean she was dreaming of him. Her eyebrows knitted in temporarily in embarrassment, but she quickly relaxed. She didn't care, she only wished that that spaceman were here!

"Doctor?" She cried out, feeling stupid. Her voice played around the curved walls, laughing at her own fear. It was consumed by silence, the Tardis wasn't even humming.

Donna hung her head. Whatever was out those double doors, she couldn't handle, not alone. She couldn't fly the Tardis and both she and the Doctor were stuck forever, separated.

She cried out once again, a plea. "Doctor…"

"Donna, I am going to kill you!"

She gasped and almost fell backwards in shock. Breathing hard, a grin spread across her face.

"Doctor!"

"What were you thinking?" he spoke, his speech unbelievably fast and running together, the way he talked when he was frustrated. "You have no idea how to fly the Tardis, and even if you tried you would probably end up killing yourself and destroying the universe! Donna!"

Donna didn't care. Hearing the Doctor's voice wiped away most of her worries. "I'm sorry, I guess I wanted to see the Tardis myself. Alone. Where are you?" she asked.

"Everywhere." He replied. "Well, in the Tardis. Well, at the hotel, but my sonic screwdriver is picking up my speech and sending it directly there. If they only had a three dimensional viewing platform, I could wire it so I would appear there. But they don't. At least I don't think they do… Maybe by the pool. Or…" He paused. "You, Donna Noble, are getting me off subject!"

"I was not!" She retorted.

"Oh, was too! But, the real question is, where are you?"

"How would I know?" She glanced across the panel of buttons and switches. How did he make sense of this mess?

"Alright. Go outside for a second, no more. Come right back."

She walked slowly to the entrance and pushed open the door, poking her head outside.

"Donna? DONNA!"

"Oh relax, alien boy," She said, closing the door exasperatingly. "It's just Earth!"

"How do you know?"

Donna rolled her eyes. "Maybe the lack of men in trench coats and blue boxes? It's Time's Square." Outside, the lights and sounds of the city pealed through from one of the busiest places on Earth. The Tardis had landed in the entrance to a very convenient allyway.

"Oh. Well, that's not so bad."

Suddenly, the Tardis began whirring. Donna closed the door again and stared as something rose out of the console. "What is that?" She asked.

"What is what?"

"It…it looks like that thing you carry around that glows!" she gently pulled it out and held it up.

"A sonic screwdriver? What?"

Donna hesitated for a second and pressed the button on the side. To her surprise, it glowed bright purple. "It works!" she cried.

"What? Donna, don't get any ideas!" the Doctor yelled.

Donna paused. She had everything the Doctor had, and the Doctor. She had never been to New York…she would be fine! The Tardis was within reach. The Doctor would help her fly it later. She was being stupid again…

"DONNA?"

It was too late. She was already out the door.


	3. Donna in New York

_Donna stepped outside the Tardis and took a deep breath. City living_, she thought,_ the best kind!_

The sonic screwdriver was heavier than she thought, oddly. She flipped it in the air like the Doctor always did, but she missed and it clattered to the pavement in a shower of sparks. She jumped back with a yelp, drawing stares. She returned them with a smile as she bent down to pick up the device and hurried away.

After just a few steps, Donna blended into the stream of people that suffocated the sidewalk. New York was brilliant! The lights were dazzling and the shops were classy and one of a kind. A pair of shoes caught her eye, and she grinned. Who said she could not be stylish _and _travel with the Doctor?

She entered the store and brought the shoes to the front.

"That will be ninety-five dollars, please." Donna frowned.

"A bit pricey, isn't it?"

"They are originals," the shopkeeper all but rolled his eyes.

"Better, then," She smiled. "Hold on." She reached into her pocket for money. It was bone dry. Traveling had its perks, but it was not very profitable. She glanced up at the clerk's bored face and smiled.

"Just wait a minute, left my purse in the car," She turned and quickly left.

Money, how would she get money? The Doctor never used it, except one time, long ago, the first time she met him, for… cab fare…

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed, whipping out the screwdriver and pressing the button so it glowed purple. The streetlight above her exploded and sparks rained on passersby's' heads.

Donna quickly walked away, stuffing the sonic back into her pocket and whispering an embarrassed "sorry" to the scene behind her. 

Eventually, she reached a large bank with an ATM machine outside. She waited in line until it was her turn, and carefully pulled out the screwdriver. She pressed the button, fearing the worst.

But nothing happened.

Well, something happened. A pile of dollar bills filed out and sat in the container, in plain reach. Donna sighed; maybe she was getting the hang of it! Hello spaceman! She picked up the money and counted it. Only fifty dollars!

The shoes alone were a hundred, she needed more. Once again she tried, but this time with the neck fully extended.

The machine exploded. 

Donna was thrown back into the others waiting in line, deafened by the blast and the screams of others, maybe her. A man helped her up, asking her something, but she couldn't hear him. The bank doors opened and police ran out, yelling something beyond her ears.

She turned and ran, as fast as she could and as far as her pounding head would allow. Her vision blurred and the lights popped and fuzzed around her.

Donna stumbled into an alley and somehow managed to make it to the end. She swayed dangerously and started to fall backwards, but someone caught her before she hit the floor.

They carefully lowered her to the ground, and she saw a face but her vision was too clouded to make out its features. She was too tired, anyway.

For the second time that day, Donna Noble slipped into darkness.


End file.
